and if this fiscal cliff is allowed to happen on january 1, your taxes, my taxes, everybody's taxes go up. and on that point, let's continue. top of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin. i want to begin with the fiscal cliff. because other news here, you have republican senator saxby chambliss, a two-term conservative from the red state south, but just this past weekend, the tea party nation website labeled him, i'm quoting, worthless and a liar. what did he say to deserve these words? he said he's willing to break the no tax pledge that he made when he first ran for office. and guess what? now he has company. fellow republican senators lindsey graham and bob corker say that under the right circumstances, they too are willing to break ranks. what is the republican world coming to? john avalon, straight to you, cnn contributor, writer for daily beast newsweek. i want to get your reaction to the news we heard from jay carney, we now know the president has spoken by phone over the weekend with boehner and mcconnell. might this be progress? >> yes, it might be progress. that's a good thing. you go